Get Your Irish Up - St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday expected to bring in lots of green

The talented pair will perform an acoustic candlelight set on Sunday, March 18, with the show starting at 7 p.m. For more information visit www.rorydolans.com

Singer and songwriter Liam O’Maonlai of the Hot House Flowers has been a star for three decades, and he’s in town this week for a series of engagements through March 19.

A master pianist and a musician’s musician, he also plays guitar, harp, tin whistle, bodhran, didgeridoo, and banjo and has recorded with some of the world’s most noted bands and musicians.

This week O’Maonlai will play St. Stephen’s Green on Jersey Shore on the March 16 and the Scratcher in New York City on March 18. For more details visit the Hot House Flowers website at hothouseflowers.com.

The Irish Arts Center has been at the forefront of innovative new ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day that don’t involve booze and green leprechaun hats for years now.

In recent years they have begun a brilliant new tradition of distributing free books by Irish and Irish American authors to the grateful public during their annual book day celebration -- and on Friday, March 16 they’ll do it again. To date they’ve distributed over 10,000 books to passing New Yorkers, and to find out where to pick one up sign up for their Twitter account (#IACBookDay) and Facebook Page updates.

For younger St. Patrick’s Day fans there’s there annual open day at the center which will be held on Sunday, March 18 from noon until 5 p.m.

Join other young folk for an afternoon of authentic Irish music, dance, song, language and crafts, or simply sit back and enjoy the variety of performances and activities taking place throughout the day. It promises be fun for the whole family, which may be a welcome change of pace from some of the shenanigans you’ll witness around Fifth Avenue.